Bugsnax made a bit of a splash back when PlayStation 5 launched. It was available to PS Plus members on Sony's new platform at no extra charge, and it stayed on the service for two months rather than just one. That's a long time to have a game available as a freebie, but it seems developer Young Horses has been doing just fine.
Despite its stint on PS Plus, Bugsnax is outperforming the PlayStation launch sales of the studio's previous game, Octodad: Dadliest Catch. President of Young Horses, Philip Tibitoski, said as much in the following tweet:
It's worth noting that the PS4 version of Bugsnax was not on PS Plus, and was sold at its regular price. It seems that the PS4 sales, as well as any PS5 sales after it came off the subscription service, were enough to put it past Octodad already. That shouldn't come as a huge surprise, as the game has a far wider appeal and was better received than its predecessor.
Anyway, good for Young Horses. In other news, the studio says there will be more from the world of Bugsnax in the future, in one form or another.
[source twitter.com, via gamespot.com]
Comments 10
I bought Octodad Twice tbh! I guess I'll have to get this at some point.
I haven't played Bugsnax yet, i have it added in my PS Plus library, but good for the devs. I'll play it once my PS5 is delivered to me.
in fairness, Bugsnax is a pretty safe game to buy for anyone who wasn't subscribed to PS Plus before January. It's already been on PS Plus, so while they might feel like they missed out, at least they're not going to pay something that they could otherwise get for free later.
This basically follows the whole argument for piracy actually helping the industry on the whole. I remember one of the reasons that the PS1 did so well was down to the console and its games being so easy to pirate. Nothing helps something sell better than people talking about it. It looks like Sony is trying a new approach of giving games to early adopters to see if it helps sales overall. I'll be very interested to see if Control suddenly gets a big bump and the attention it apparently deserves.
I guess it goes to show that a game landing on PS+ on release day isn't a bad scenario.
@Old-Red not exactly. There are countless examples of games that show the opposite. Dante's Inferno comes to mind. It was the most pirated game the year it came out and it didn't sell well at all. Plus piracy made ps1 popular, but its games didn't sell that well. Nor did ps2 games, with some notable exceptions of course.
It's hard to tell. For every Fall Guys and Rocket League success story, there are tons that don't do anywhere near as well or even get a decent boost.
@Old-Red Honestly I think what got people talkin' 'bout Bugsnax was its appearance in the first big PS5 showcase. The song mattered too. Sure, people made fun of it but they were definitely aware of the game. Launching it on PS Plus helped people confirm that it's actually a good game but I don't think as many PS5 owners would've even downloaded it if it wasn't for that perfect marketing move a few months earlier.
@Voltan @naruball I wasn't really making a statement as fact, more musing on the new approach. Since getting my PS5 with the PS+ sub I have been given a unusual amount of games that I would never normally spend money on. Also, I've enjoyed them a lot more than I thought I would and told numerous people so. I think it's a lot easier to forgive a game's flaws and speak positively if you haven't paid any money for them too. Multiply this by the odd few million people who have been lucky enough to get a PS5 and you've get a lot of free word of mouth endorsement, well, not free, but measured loss leading.
I'm waiting for the physical edition, though I may cave and buy it digitally, and I will still buy the physical release regardless.
@JustPlainLoco You'll be waiting until Spring or Summer at this rate, fangamer still doesn't have a solid release day yet.
https://www.fangamer.com/collections/bugsnax/products/bugsnax-game-playstation-5-playstation-4
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